How Knowmad works

Turn a passage or quote into a card

Select text and tap New Flashcard. The text becomes the answer and the editor opens. Tap Generate and AI writes the question, or write your own.

Collect text from several pages

Use the buttons at the bottom of the reader to add selections to the question or the answer as you read, then tap Finish Flashcard. Finish the card before you close the book, because collected text that isn't saved is not kept.

Crop a figure

Tap Crop and drag a rectangle over a diagram, formula or figure. Use it as the question or the answer image, and the editor opens.

Edit the card

Format the text and add an image to either side from the page, your photos or the camera. Undo and redo cover every change in the editor.

Optional AI help

AI can write a question from your answer. Tap Refine on the answer to make it concise, or to turn it into key points or a sectioned list. You decide what to keep, and the app never creates cards on its own. Each result shows where it came from: Apple Intelligence or your own provider and model.

Go back to the page

Every card keeps the page it came from. Open a card and tap Go to Source to open the book at that page. While you study a book's cards, Go to Source is in the ⋯ menu, and you can resume the session afterwards.

Find cards in a book

Each book has its own flashcards. Filter them by New, Learning and Learned, search their text, sort them, or group them by the book's chapters.

Define a word or a passage

Select a word and tap Define to see its meaning. Select a longer passage, and Knowmad splits it into words so you can choose which ones to save. Words in the passage are shown in three ways:

• horizon New to you
• gale Saved
• the Marked as known

I had some difficulty in making him comprehend the true case.

comprehend (verb)

To understand something, especially something difficult

Save Word

A definition or a translation, chosen per language

The first time you look up a word in a language, you choose a translation into your language or a definition in the book's language. You can change it later: for one book with the AI button on the word screen, or for the whole language in Settings → Apple Intelligence on devices that support it.

Definitions in simple words

Definitions follow the style of a learner's dictionary: simple, common words, without using the word being defined. Meanings match the part of speech, so "run" the verb and "run" the noun are saved as two words.

Examples from your book

The first example is the sentence where you found the word. Generated examples prefer words you have already saved, and you can edit, remove or add examples.

Hear the word

Pronunciation uses the device's own speech and needs no AI.

Phrases and known words

Join neighboring words such as "give up" into one entry with Group into phrase. Mark as Known marks every word in a selection as known, so those words stop being shown as new. Marking words as known is free and has no limit.

Finish later

If you selected a passage, you can close the word screen and keep reading. Tap Finish Definition at the bottom of the reader to come back to its words.

What needs AI

Definitions and examples need Apple Intelligence or your own AI key; translations don't. See Connect Your AI.

The intervals

Each flashcard and word comes back after these waits:

1. 1 day
2. 2 days
3. 3 days
4. 5 days
5. 8 days
6. 13 days
7. 21 days
8. Learned: then 34, 55, 89 days and longer

After the 21-day review it counts as learned.

Flashcards: Remembered or Forgot

A card shows its question first. Try to recall the answer before you flip it; this is called active recall.

Your answer	What happens
Remembered, before flipping the card	Moves forward two steps
Remembered, after flipping the card	Moves forward one step
Forgot	Moves back two steps

At the end of a session you can go through the forgotten cards again. That extra round doesn't change their schedule.

If you keep forgetting a card, edit it during the review: make the question more specific or the answer shorter.

Words: three kinds of questions

A new word starts with one learning session of three rounds: pick it from four options, build it from letters, then type it. In later practice each question gets harder as the word moves forward. Later reviews are cards you check yourself.

Learned and Complete

A learned item keeps coming back at longer intervals. Complete removes it from study, and it stays in its collection.

Studying ahead

You can select cards or words in a collection and study them at any time. Only scheduled reviews change when an item comes back.

When reviews pile up

Knowmad shows the most overdue items first, compared with their interval. There are no streaks. A study day runs from 4 a.m. to 4 a.m., so a late-night review counts for the day before.

Folders

Tap Add Book to import files, create folders inside folders, and drag books and folders to move them.

iCloud or this device

Books in iCloud sync across your devices. Books stored on this device use no iCloud storage. Free Up Space removes downloaded copies and keeps the books in iCloud.

Progress on every cover

Rings on each book show reading progress, words learned and flashcards learned.

Study a whole folder

Study the due flashcards or words of a folder, or of the whole library, from the library screen.

Changes on two devices

If a book's file was changed on two devices, Knowmad shows both versions and you choose which to keep.

Back up your flashcards and words

Settings → Backup → Export Backup saves your flashcards, saved words and known words to one file. Import Backup adds them back, for example after you move to a different iCloud account. Books are not included.